Abstract
By way of introduction I wish to say that, for some time, I shared the hope with many others that a General System Theory as von Bertalanffy could be the right way of describing human and animal biology. However, this hope dwindled when I learned from Jacques Monod and his book, Le hasard et la necessite (1970, pp. 93f.), that such an approach is not only too vague to be applied to living organisms but also, and worse, that it has a tendency to reward its practitioners with a crude feeling of omniscience — which, in its turn, makes it inexpedient for them to learn something more specific about living beings and their behaviour. What we should do, Monod said, is to study subsystems and their interrelations with whatever methods we find functional in order to come to understand at least these aspects of the organisms more precisely. A complete picture of organisms, as envisaged by General System Theory, will never be accessible to us.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Bertalanffy, L. von (1968). General System Theory, London: Allen Lane The Penguin Press.
Duncker, K. (1945). On Problem-Solving, Psychological Monograph, 58, No. 270, 1–113.
Eibl-Eibesfeldt, I. (1973). Der vorprogrammierte Mensch, Munich: Verlag Fritz Molden.
Fogel, A. & Thelen, E. The development of early expressive and communicative action: Re-interpreting the evidence from a dynamic systems perspective, Developmental Psychology, 23, 747–761.
Hall, E.T. (1969). The Hidden Dimension, New York: Doubleday & Company.
Holst, E. von (1939). Die relative Koordination als Phnomen und als Methode zentralnervoser Funktions-Analyse, Ergebnisse der Physiologie, 42, 228–306.
Hooff, J.A.R.A.M. van (1976). The Comparison of Facial Expression in Man and Higher Primates, in: M. von Craach et al. (Eds.) Methods of Inference from Animal to Human Behaviour, Paris: Mouton/Aldine, 165–196.
Laszlo, E. (1972). Introduction to systems philosophy, New York: Harper & Row.
Monod, J. (1970). Le hasard et la nècessitè, Paris: Editions du Seuil.
Murray, L. & Trevarthen, C. (1985). Emotional Regulation of Interactions Between Two-months-olds and Their Mothers. In: T.M. Field and N.A. Fox (Eds.). Social Perception in Infants, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 177–198.
Petersen, A.F. (1988). Why Children and Young Animals Play — A New Theory of Play and Its Role in Problem Solving. Historisk-Filosof is — ke Meddelelser, 54, 1–74.
Rouchouse, G. (1981). Analyse des situations de contacts entre enfants de 6 á 30 mois. Enfance, 4–5, 271–288.
Thelen, E. (1989). Self-Organization in Developmental Processes: Can Systems Approaches Work?. In: M. Gunnar & E.Thelen (Eds.). Systems and Development, The Minnesota Symposium in Child Psychology, vol. 22, London: Erlbaum.
Wilden, A. (1972). System and Structure — Essays in Communication and Exchange. London: Tavistock Publications.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1990 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this paper
Cite this paper
Petersen, A.F. (1990). Situational Analysis: Yes — Radical Systems Theory: No.. In: Bloch, H., Bertenthal, B.I. (eds) Sensory-Motor Organizations and Development in Infancy and Early Childhood. NATO ASI Series, vol 56. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2071-2_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2071-2_6
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7430-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2071-2
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive